SENIOR

The Federation Apartments
have undergone unique growth and changes
in serving the Jewish elderly.

ALAN HITSKY

E

Associate Editor

PHOTOS BY
GLENN TRIEST

24

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1991

ve Sheldon was 75 when she finally
decided to move to the "Jewish
neighborhood" 2 1/2 years ago.
A widow living alone in northwest
Detroit, Mrs. Sheldon moved to
Prentis Federation Apartments in
Oak Park. She joined hundreds of
seniors of low or moderate income
who are living in Jewish community
and HUD-subsidized units in Oak
Park and West Bloomfield.
Jewish Federation Apartments
(JFA) is the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion's youngest agency. But since
opening the doors of its first building
in 1970, JFA has been steadily
expanding. It is now planning spring
construction for Phase V, to be add-
ed to its Hechtman building in West
Bloomfield. The agency already has
200 inquiries about the 150 future
units.
It is a far cry from what Helen
Naimark describes as a mom-and-
pop operation when she joined the
agency as executive director in 1977.

"We had 168 units then (at 15100 W.
Ten Mile Road in Oak Park) and a
three-person staff." In the 13 years
since she joined JFA, Mrs. Naimark
has "never put down the (construc-
tion) hammer. We have three addi-
tional buildings and one on the
drawing board. But now we have to
put our house in order."
Jewish Federation Apartments
were created in 1967 at the recom-
mendation of a Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration task force. With funding
from the U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development, three
buildings housing more than 400
senior citizens and younger persons
with disabilities now stand in front
of the Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish
Community Center in Oak Park.
The Hechtman Federation Apart-
ments opened seven years ago adja-
cent to the Fleischman Home for
Aged and the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. It has
106 residents.

Thelma Levy takes a
moment away from a
good book.